30th Ramadhan 1427H.

Yes. It is the last day of the holy fasting month of Ramadhan. I guess it is about time for me to light up the raya mood. Well, for some of us, raya is not a so-much-to-be-awaited event as we are all stacked up with mountains of assignments, heavy workloads with crazy datelines, being strained with chains of exams, just to name a few. And nothing seems to cheer us all up other than completing or getting ourselves free from those constraints.

Yes, I am talking about myself. Semester exam is just, just, just around the corner and I am yet to find spaces of my luxury time at home to study. Raymond Chang and Campbell Reece might be staring in bitterness at me as their pieces of work don’t seem well esteemed by me.

I still remember when I was a kid, raya is a real raya. It was so lively back then, when I was not constrain with such assignments and threaten with university placements and when old folks and people around me won’t dawdle to give me duit raya but now, you can tell that I don’t deserve such gifts in duit raya by looking at the janggut I treasure and how horrible pimples been scattering all over my face. Haha. The point is, we are getting older and as time goes by, raya seems meaningless for us. It is getting empty. But I won’t let it happen. Raya is raya!

In a few hours time, I will fly to my kampong to celebrate Raya (and by ‘celebrating raya’, I really mean celebrating raya as I won’t bring along any assignments, and my brain will be in raya mode) and I won’t be around until Thursday. So I think it’s about time for me to wish all of you Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. Maaf Zahir Batin. For words which might hurt, for jokes you can’t take, and for advices you can’t accept, million apologies!

Oh Raya! Embrace me!